New at the studio. Savage Ultramarine seamless & 5-in-1 Port-a-scrim

Going to start off by apologizing, last few months have been pretty hectic in and around the studio. Just around Christmas I developed pneumonia which lasted for about a month, maybe a little bit more. Plagued by some car and truck issues and some studio repairs everything just seemed to stack on top of each other for a while. Setting this aside we’re posting a “new at the studio" blog installment. (better late than never, right?)

 Our incredibly patient Sponsor Savage Universal corporation was kind enough to send us some new gear to try out here in the studio. Once we got the news they were shipping the products we started to put together a plan featuring model Kelly McCarthy and make up artist Gianna Joy Bass
 Savage sent the #5 ultramarine seamless background. We’ve been itching to try out the color, incredibly versatile and mood setting tone.

 Savage also sent their Freestanding 5-in-1 Port-a-Scrim,  (large 55“ x 79“) version. It's comes with your standard 5 in 1 set-up with white, gold, silver, black and diffuser. A lightweight aluminum collapsible frame makes easy to manage.

  It comes with a stand to position it in a number angles and orientations. A handle is also included that attaches to the stand if you want to have an assistant hold it up and over a model to diffuse or block sunlight outside the studio...for this I've always referred to scrims as "model swatters" as it looks like the assistant is holding a giant fly swatter over the model...."didn't nail the pose?... give em' the swatter!" Kidding!

 We’ve been trying to hunt down a great large scrim for quite a while. Not only are they versatile for the studio but for outdoor shooting they're almost a necessity.

With the ultramarine color and consulting with M.U.A Gianna for the makeup color and Kelly about the clothing we decided to keep the shoot sleek and stylish for a strong fashion look in a dramatic mood. Kelly has no problem pulling that off.

 We did a two light set up at first as we had a lot of reflective coverage happening with the scrim. We implemented our Bowens Gemini series monolights triggered by the new Pocketwizard PlusIV transceivers. Moving on to a more "flowy" feel we added an additional light and had Kelly switch to a looser fitting outfit.

Though the session was pre- visualized through some planning we still did use the elixxier set a light 3-D software to have better lay out the lighting and floor plan before the shoot.

The shoot came off without a hitch, the seamless background color just gave an instant mood to the shots. Kelly matched her posing and expression to the tone of the shoot, Gianna did a great job with the make up, she really set the tone and attitude with some stunning eye makeup. She really transformed Kelly.

 The moody #5 Ultramarine seamless background is one of my favorite colors in the studio at the moment and I'm really looking forward to trying it out with some different lighting scenarios.
As far as the model swatter...um, scrim I could not be happier. Warmer weather around the corner I can't wait to use it to it's full potential outside the studio or on location!

Some of the other gear used.
Nikon D4
Sigma lenses, 24/70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm F/2.8
3 Legged Thing Frank Tripod

Kelly McCarthy (model) Gianna Joy Bass (MUA & Hair)

 Well I hope to update the blog more often, lot of things happening here and the business is headed into a few new directions so I hope you stay tuned
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Rob Lopshire